The first true mammals evolved roughly 200 million years ago, during the early days of the dinosaurs. But mammals are the last surviving members of an older group, called the therapsids. At first glance, many therapsids weren’t obviously mammal-like , but they also had subtle features that we recognize in mammals today, like a hole on the sides of their skull for the jaw muscle to attach and structures on their jaw bones that would eventually evolve into mammals' distinctive middle ear bones. In a new paper in the journal Nature Communications, scientists announce the discovery of a fossil therapsid ...

Researchers have used a chemical compound to light up treatment-resistant cancers on imaging scans, in a breakthrough that could help medical professionals better target and treat cancer. The authors at King’s College London say that using the radiotracer – an injected compound used in PET scans – could help inform doctors that a patients aggressive cancer will not respond to chemotherapy before treatment is given. This would prevent the patients receiving unnecessary treatment and provide them with alternative options that will give them the best chance of beating the disease. The ...

Osaka, Japan – From the very moment an egg is fertilized, life begins with a remarkable process: cells start dividing and replicating to make copies of themselves. Yet this process is not flawless. Errors can occur when genetic material is copied, creating “unfit” cells that don’t work properly. To keep development on track, cells employ a fascinating quality control system called cell competition. However, much about this mechanism remains unclear. Now, in a study recently published in Nature ...

Researchers in Japan have demonstrated the high accuracy of their newly developed typhoon observation device, which is designed to drop from an aircraft into the eye of a typhoon. The results were published in the journal Scientific Online Letters on the Atmosphere (SOLA). Dropped from aircraft, the dropsonde, a small, single-use instrument, measures and transmits atmospheric data, including temperature, humidity, and wind speed, as it falls. The new dropsonde, iMDS-17, weighs only 130 grams and is made mainly of a biodegradable ...

The ICOD (Improving Condition in Down syndrome) project, a pioneering study in addressing the cognitive difficulties associated with Down syndrome, has demonstrated the safety of treatment with the molecule AEF0217, developed by the French biotech Aelis Farma, as well as its effectiveness in improving cognitive function in these people. The study was led by the Research Institute of the Hospital del Mar.  This phase of the trial (phase 1/2 of the project), funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 R+D programme and Aelis Farma, has been carried out with 29 people with Down syndrome between 18 and ...

Although demand for mental health treatment remains high, administrative and financial barriers are preventing many psychologists from participating in insurance networks, according to the American Psychological Association’s 2024 Practitioner Pulse Survey. Barriers by many insurance companies can make it more difficult for psychologists to remain in-network and for patients to access the care they need, exacerbating the ongoing mental health crisis. This annual survey, which was conducted among 853 psychologists in September 2024, by APA and its companion organization APA Services ...

SAN BERNARDINO, California, USA, 17 December 2024 - In a compelling Genomic Press Interview, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Julio Licinio reveals how a children's book about a lonely color has shaped the innovative vision of scientific publisher Genomic Press. The story of Flicts, penned by renowned Brazilian artist Ziraldo Alves Pinto, has become more than just a brand element – it represents a revolutionary approach to academic publishing. "Sometimes the ideas that don't fit anywhere else are precisely the ones that help us reach the stars," explains Dr. Licinio, highlighting the publisher's mission to support ...

CHARLESTON, South Carolina, USA, 17 December 2024 - In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview published today in Brain Medicine, renowned neuroscientist Dr. Peter Kalivas reveals crucial insights into how brain circuits drive addictive behaviors and discusses potential new drug targets for treating behavioral disorders. Dr. Kalivas, Distinguished University Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, has transformed our understanding of addiction neuroscience through his pioneering work on the tetrapartite synapse - a complex cellular structure that includes neurons, astroglia, and the extracellular matrix. His ...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, USA, 17 December 2024 - In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview, Dr. Munir Gunes Kutlu, Assistant Professor at Temple University's Center for Substance Abuse Research, unveils revolutionary findings about how our brains process fundamental learning calculations and social interactions. "Our research has identified specific neural mechanisms that transform sensory inputs into behavioral outputs," says Dr. Kutlu. "We've discovered that the brain's dopamine system works in more sophisticated ways than previously understood, particularly in how it processes information about environmental cues and rewards." The interview, published ...

ATLANTA, Georgia, USA, 17 December 2024 - In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview with researchers from Emory University, a new study published today reveals complex attitudes toward psychedelic therapy, with detailed statistics showing both strong support for potential benefits and significant awareness of risks. The research, published in the journal Psychedelics, surveyed 178 attendees at an academic conference focused on psychedelics and spiritual care. Among participants, 32 were active psychedelic ...

Leuven, Belgium, 17 December 2024 – Researchers at Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders (NERF), led by Prof. Vincent Bonin, have published two new studies uncovering how visual information is processed and distributed in the brain. The studies reveal the complexity and flexibility of visual information processing in the brain. The visual cortex, a key region for interpreting and processing visual input, plays a crucial role in shaping what we see. Vincent Bonin, a professor at KU Leuven and group leader at NERF, studies the neural circuits that process sensory information. "We often think of visual processing ...

Nearly a quarter of Portuguese adults have allergies that cause a runny nose. This respiratory disease, formally called allergic rhinitis and frequently associated with asthma, is a common problem around the world, and the upper airway is a key target for research into the underlying disease processes. Now a global team of researchers has discovered that patients with allergy-induced sniffles and asthma have different fungal colonies or mycobiomes in their noses, suggesting potential lines of enquiry for future treatments.   “We showed that allergic rhinitis ...

A new psychological study has shown that when people know they are under surveillance it generates an automatic response of heightened awareness of being watched, with implications for public mental health. In a paper published in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness psychology researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) worked with 54 participants to examine the effects of surveillance on an essential function of human sensory perception – the ability to detect another person’s gaze. Lead author, Associate Professor of neuroscience and behaviour Kiley Seymour, said previous research has established the effects on conscious behaviour when people know they ...

DECEMBER 2024 TIP SHEET: A behavioral expert offers advice for dealing with loss and holiday grief, a physician-scientist explains using “biological age” as a tool to predict early colorectal cancer risk, a cancer leader receives a prestigious award for mentorship, blood cancer experts share research insights that may eventually lead to a cure for multiple myeloma, a recent study shows genetic mutations accumulate in smokers with MDS, two clinical trials show promise for using an antibody to treat high-risk forms of lymphoma and ongoing research seeks answers for higher breast cancer ...

A federal funding agency that supports high-impact research capable of driving biomedical and health breakthroughs has awarded up to $47 million for a project aimed at moving eye transplants to restore vision closer to reality. The six-year award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA) program is intended to supercharge an interdisciplinary effort to bring eye transplantation forward to clinical trial. To date, only one whole-eye transplant has ever been successfully ...

A new study reveals corals must be within only a few metres of each other to successfully reproduce, leaving them vulnerable in a warming world. The international research, led by The University of Queensland’s Professor Peter Mumby, measured the success of a natural spawning event in March this year. “In what came as a surprise, we saw that corals needed to be within 10 metres of one another, and preferably closer than that for fertilisation to take place,” Professor Mumby said. “We knew corals couldn’t be too ...

Researcher contacts: Annett Bartsch, b.geos GmbH, annett.bartsch@bgeos.com (UTC+1 hour) Rodrigue Tanguy, b.geos GmbH, rodrigue.tanguy@bgeos.com (UTC+1 hour) AGU press contact: Rebecca Dzombak, news@agu.org (UTC-5 hours) WASHINGTON — A new study has produced the first map of all coastal communities and infrastructure across the Arctic, showing the vulnerability of the built environment to threats from climate change. Erosion is currently the biggest threat to Arctic coastlines; some places are already experiencing ...

Continuing its role as a leader in leukemia research, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has been awarded a five-year, $10.8 million grant to further its exceptional programs in leukemia and other blood cancers. The grant, from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), renews funding for a prestigious Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in leukemia. The NCI’s SPORE program is designed to support translational research that moves discoveries from the lab to the clinic. The WashU Medicine leukemia SPORE is one of only two SPOREs in leukemia in the country. Siteman Cancer Center, ...

Taxi drivers and ambulance drivers, whose jobs require frequent spatial and navigational processing, have the lowest levels of death due to Alzheimer’s disease compared with other occupations, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ. The findings are observational, so can’t confirm a direct link, but the researchers say they raise the possibility that memory intensive driving occupations, such as taxi and ambulance driving, might be associated with some protection against Alzheimer’s disease. The hippocampus ...

Although Disney princesses seem to live happily ever after, they face serious real world health hazards, warn experts in the Christmas issue of The BMJ. Sanne van Dijk and colleagues call on Disney to consider strategies such as mindfulness and personal protection measures to improve princesses’ wellbeing and help them start living healthily ever after.  Snow White is the “fairest princess of all” yet as a scullery maid for her wicked stepmother, opportunities for social interaction are extremely limited, putting her at risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety, and early death, explain the authors. Fortunately, Snow White meets the Seven ...

Giving inexperienced clinicians a quick coaching session with an expert just before they carry out a procedure boosts their success rate and could improve patient safety, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ. Athletes and musicians often rehearse, warm up, or practice just before they are about to perform. Yet in medicine, where performing a procedure can have life-altering consequences, warm-up, or “just-in-time” training is rare to non-existent.  To fill this knowledge gap, a team of US researchers conducted a randomised clinical trial to assess whether coaching inexperienced clinicians just before intubating an infant (inserting ...

A new study raises the possibility that jobs that require frequent spatial processing—such as figuring out a taxi route or the best way to navigate to a hospital—could lead to lower rates of death from Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from Mass General Brigham investigated this possibility by using national data on the occupations of people who had died to evaluate risk of death from Alzheimer’s disease across 443 professions. They found that taxi driving and ambulance driving were associated with a lower rate of death from Alzheimer’s disease compared to other professions. Results ...

A novel nanobody-based immunosensor, designed to function stably in undiluted biological fluids and harsh conditions, has been developed, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. Their innovative design leverages BRET—bioluminescence resonance energy transfer—and exhibits great potential for point-of-care testing, therapeutic drug monitoring, and environmental applications using paper-based devices. Immunosensors have become indispensable tools in the fields of biochemistry and medical science, providing reliable methods for detecting specific biomolecules. They work by exploiting the interactions between antibodies ...

A ground-breaking new report by the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE) published today, Tuesday 17 December, highlights the profound impacts – both positive and negative – that housing has on health and wellbeing. Building Health Equity: The Role of the Property Sector in Improving Health lays out how poor quality and inequitable access to homes that people can afford is linked with worse mental and physical health, whereas increased availability of secure, affordable, warm homes can improve long-term health and longevity. The IHE’s report, which has been sponsored by Legal and General, proposes a new way forward to enable the property sector and national and local ...

A Groundbreaking Comparison of Meditation Techniques Researchers from Maharishi International University (MIU) and Augusta University have conducted the largest review and meta-analysis to date on meditation for PTSD treatment. Analyzing 61 studies with over 3,400 participants, the study compared four categories of meditation: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-Based Other techniques (MBO), Other Meditations (OM), and Transcendental Meditation (TM). Effect sizes for the first three categories ...